Lingonberry Cheesecake with White Chocolate and Gingerbread

With only 9 days left to Christmas it’s about time I share another recipe. For my birthday last week I ate an incredible cake with flavours of gingerbread, lingonberry, white chocolate and meringue, made by Lovisa from Oh Sweetness. Last weekend I felt inspired to create something with the same combination of flavours. But since I didn’t want to mock the cake I had just had, by making a far worse copy of it, I decided to go for a cheesecake inspired by the flavours in Lovisa’s creation. And I am so glad that I did! Gingerbread of course screams Christmas and together with the colours of the red lingonberries and the white chocolate, it is the perfect cake for this holiday.

I don’t know about you but cakes or pastries with lingonberries are not part of my regular custom so this discovery is quite new to me and I have to say that I like it a lot. With all the sweetness from the white chocolate it is very refreshing with the tanginess from the berries. The cake also gets a more wintry touch from the grated white chocolate (which with a bit of imagination resembles snow) and sugar frosted berries.

Make this cake for all your loved ones this holiday. You won’t regret it and I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two asks for the recipe!

1. About twelve hours before you are going to make the cake, you start with the frosting of the berries. Crack the egg and place ONLY the egg white in a small bowl and give it a proper whisk. Pour the sugar onto a plate. Dip the berries in the egg white and then toss them around in the sugar until they are covered. Place them onto another plate and store them uncovered inside the fridge over night.

2. Heat the oven to 175C / 345F.

3. Melt the butter. Mix the gingerbread and the digestives into fine crumbs in a food processor. Blend it with the butter and press it down into the bottom of a buttered, detachable, baking pan using your hands. Place it in the refrigerator while making the filling.

4. Put the cream cheese and crème fraiche in a bowl and add the seeds from half a vanilla pod, lemon juice and sugar. Mix everything until smooth and then stir the eggs in, one at a time. Finally you add the lingonberries, stirring carefully not to break any.

5. Bake in the lower part of the oven for approximately one hour. While the cake is in the oven you prepare the last part of the garnish, the white chocolate. Use a grater with small wholes, like the one for Parmesan cheese, and make sure the chocolate comes straight from the fridge while doing this. It is much easier grating cold chocolate.

6. When the cake has set and cooled you approach the garnish. Start by dividing the grated chocolate all over the cake and then place the frosted berries in the centre or as you prefer. Voilà, your Christmas cake is done. Enjoy!